Peter Meller

During his lifetime, Peter Meller was best known as an art historian, a highly regarded expert on the art of Renaissance Italy. Few people outside a small circle of friends and admirers knew that he was also a brilliant graphic artist. When he died in 2008, at the age of 85, he left behind thousands of drawings and prints, a body of work remarkable for its size but also for its overwhelming imaginative abundance, elegance, sophistication, and humor. His work had been exhibited only a few times in and around Santa Barbara, California, where he spent the last half of his life; he sold some prints and gave many away as gifts. Since his death, the quality and significance of his achievement have begun to be appreciated by a larger audience.

In the summer of 2012, a comprehensive retrospective exhibition was held at the Art, Design & Architecture Museum of the University of California, Santa Barbara. A companion volume, The Zodiac of Wit: Peter Meller and the Graphic Imagination, by Robert Williams, was published to coincide with the event. A similarly comprehensive exhibition, organized by noted dealer and collector Cyril Humphris, will take place at Gallery 27, Cork St., London, from April 15-21, 2013.

Obtaining Originals

Persons interested in owning original works by Peter Meller or in licensing copyrighted material should contact:Mr. John Moore (in the USA)Mr. Cyril Humphris (outside the USA)

Get the Book!

The Zodiac of Wit: Peter Meller and the Graphic Imagination is available from the Art, Design & Architecture Museum of the University of California, Santa Barbara, for a price of $25.00. To order, contact: mvierra@museum.ucsb.edu